Hi, I'm a circuit noob, I can solder a little, and i've made simple circuits using a screw board from an electronics store.

I have a machine with an annoying beep, high pitched and loud.

Is there an easy way of modifying the beep pitch/volume by cutting off the speaker and reconnecting it with some simple circuitry between the speaker and the rest of the circuit without changing anything in the current circuit board?

Is it a speaker or a little piezo squeeker? Most people just disconnect the piezo devices. I stuffed some electricians putty in mine. (Electricians putty is like clay or Play-dough, except it doesn't harden for several years.) It works if all you want is silence.

or masking tape over the "beeper" hole will silence it also, but not disable the tone. You can always post some pics of it so we can determine what type of beeper/buzzer it is to be able to give better advice, maybe if it has some specs on it you could post them on here. (usually this info is printed on the back of the housing.) It could be just a matter of getting a replacement with less Frequency(Hz) and with lower decibels if it is a piezo.